it is the silence that gives him away. fa’liya feels the space change around her, and as she looks up, she sees iglux̂’s eyes staring back at her from a child’s face. she recoils internally at the sight.
for a moment, she does not move. she leaves the spit hanging from her lower jaw in a bright, vulgar strand, while she stares, bile burning at the back of her tongue. nothing comes of it but a wet, ugly sound in her throat.
something mean and wounded twists in fa’liya so sharply that she nearly bares her teeth. she does not.
for a moment, she does not move. she leaves the spit hanging from her lower jaw in a bright, vulgar strand, while she stares, bile burning at the back of her tongue. nothing comes of it but a wet, ugly sound in her throat.
something mean and wounded twists in fa’liya so sharply that she nearly bares her teeth. she does not.
you should not be out here.she says, voice hoarse from her retching, raw and thin. she lifts one paw and drags dirt over the mess with a clumsy scrape as if to undo it, and the smell worsens once disturbed, rancid meat and acid blooming beneath the leaves. her stomach turns again. she shuts her eyes hard until the world steadies.
go back, child.fa’liya mutters. she does not look at him when she says it; she does not know his name.